One more arrested in ETO suicide case

The SAS Nagar police have arrested Rajiv Sood, an accused in the suicide case of excise and taxation officer (ETO) Ranjit Singh.

A small-time transporter, Sood was arrested in the wee hours of Tuesday. The police said he acted as a witness in the false complaint against the ETO in the vigilance fake trap. This is the second arrest in the case. On January 2, the police had arrested Paramjit Singh, a trader who also acted as a complainant in the fake trap laid against Ranjit Singh.

The SAS Nagar police, following a court order in August 2012, had booked superintendent of police (SP) Amandeep Kaur, who was earlier posted with the Punjab vigilance bureau (VB), head constable Harminder Singh and traders Rajinder Singh, Rajiv Sood and Paramjit Singh who acted as complainants.

The accused were booked for abetting the ETO's suicide, besides other offences, in the FIR registered at the Phase 1 police station, SAS Nagar. The ETO was falsely implicated in March 2011 and had committed suicide a month later while on bail.

"Sood, a resident of Ishar Nagar, Ludhiana, was produced before the court after the arrest and has been sent to judicial custody," said SP (city) Swarndeep Singh. He added, "Raids are on to nab the three other accused."

The special investigation team (SIT) probing the matter had filed a challan before the court, indicting Amandeep Kaur, Harminder Singh and the three traders for conspiring to falsely implicate Ranjit Singh, thus forcing him to commit suicide.

Ranjit Singh's widow Manjit Kaur, who had been demanding the arrest of the accused, had even accused the police of going slow against them.

The court had in November issued warrants against the accused; these were re-issued on December 20. The case will come up for hearing before the court on Wednesday.